Messaging translation services

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of a method for translating a message can be broadly summarized by the following steps: generating an electronic message in an understood language of an originating party; receiving instructions to translate contents of the electronic message to another language; converting the electronic message to the another language in accordance with the instructions; and delivering the converted electronic message to the receiving party. Other methods and devices are also provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/243,029, filed Apr. 2, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,025,738, issued May5, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/849,997, filed Mar. 25, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,699,676, issuedApr. 15, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/637,378, filed Dec. 14, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,406,385, issuedMar. 26, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/304,032, filed Dec. 15, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,006, issuedFeb. 2, 2010, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to electronic messaging and,more particularly, to customization of electronic messaging content.

BACKGROUND

In telephone communications, voice mail systems are provided so thattelephone callers may leave voice mail messages to users of the system.Accordingly, many features are provided by voice mail systems to allowusers to access their voice mail messages in a convenient and usefulmanner. For example, a user may be provided options to allow the user tonavigate through the recorded message using his telephone keypad orvoice input that can effect a skip, rewind, pause, or other similaroperations.

However, in some situations, a user may not be able to review andcomprehend a voice mail message via his telephone or other audioterminal with conventional voice mail options. Additional servicing of avoice mail message may be needed. For example, a voice mail message maybe in a language that the user is not able to understand. Thus, althoughthe user may be able to access the voice mail message, he or she may notbe able to comprehend it. Similar problems also appear in other types ofmessaging systems.

Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to addressthe aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and devices fortranslating a message. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method,among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps:generating an electronic message in an understood language of anoriginating party; receiving instructions to translate contents of theelectronic message to another language; converting the electronicmessage to the another language in accordance with the instructions; anddelivering the converted electronic message to the receiving party.

Embodiments also include a computer readable medium having a computerprogram for performing the above steps. Other systems, methods,features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be or becomeapparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the followingdrawings and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included withinthis description and be within the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a communications networkof the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an interactive menu format for one embodiment ofa voice mail system of the network of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a representative process of one embodiment of a voice mailtranslation service utilized in the network of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a representative process of one embodiment of a voice mailtranslation service utilized in the network of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer that canimplement the voice mail translation system utilized in the network ofFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment, among others, of a communications network100 of the present disclosure. Communications network 100 includes agovernmental, private, or public network that provides a communicationsconduit between a voice mail server 150 and access device(s) 180.

One embodiment of the communications network 100, among others, includesa packetized network 110 (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) or intranetnetwork that utilize packet-switching paradigm) interfaced with otherdevices. Packetized network 110 may represent, for example,communications through the Internet using various known protocols.Gateway 120 is interfaced between packetized network 110 and a publicswitched telecommunications network (PSTN) 130 and acts as a linkbetween the two networks that may utilize different network protocols.PSTN 130 is further coupled to access device(s) 180. Thus, accessdevice(s) 180 may communicate through PSTN 130 with other communicationsdevices interfaced with PSTN 130, or they may communicate with othercommunications devices interfaced through packetized network 110.

Packetized network 110 may also include an electronic mail (e-mail)server 160 for processing e-mail or other messages. Examples of messagesinclude, but are not limited to, e-mail, voice mail, text, audio orvisual information, multimedia information, or programming information.

In some embodiments, communication network 100 enables communicationbetween similar and different voice mail systems or platforms.Accordingly, the communication network 100 ties various voice mailplatforms so that they can send messages to each other over a TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network. Thecommunications network 100 and voice mail systems, for example, mayfollow an Audio Message Interchange Specification (AMIS) standard orVoice Profile for Internet Messaging (VPIM) standard to facilitatecommunications between various voice mail systems.

A voice mail system employs use of the voice mail server 150. The voicemail server 150 features the capability to store messages in a varietyof audible, data formats required for providing a voice messagingservice. These may include such information as spoken name, personalgreeting, and class of service. A lightweight directory access protocol(LDAP) server, or other online directory service, may be used to aid inthe lookup of such information that is associated with a telephonenumber of a voice mail user. In any case, the voice mail server 150operates transparently to the subscriber in a manner similar to theservice provided by a conventional, voice-grade telecommunicationsservice. The subscriber sets up the service and then utilizes whateverdevice is convenient to retrieve messages from the voice mail server150.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a subscriber or a personleaving a message for a subscriber accesses the voice mail server 150through an access device 180. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, theaccess device 180 is a standard telephone, as shown in FIG. 1. In otherembodiments, the access device 180 may also include a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), or a cell phone. Variousother access devices, such as handheld messaging devices and Internetappliances, may also be used to leave and to retrieve messages. Theaccess device 180 may be connected to the voice mail server 150 over aPSTN network, an IP-telephony connection, or over any other type ofanalog or data network.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the voice mail server 150 performsthe functions of audio play and record, text-to-speech synthesis,dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) (touch-tone) recognition, automaticspeech recognition (ASR) processing, and other call control functionsnecessary for interactive services. The voice mail server 150 functionsto accept inputs from the telephone end user as speech or DTMF signalsand makes requests over the packetized network 110 to those web serversthat provide interactive voice response (IVR) services with which theend user wishes to interact. In particular, the voice mail systemincludes logic for detecting a user's touch-tone keypad inputs andautomatically recognizing and interpreting the recipient's voice andtouch-tone inputs to effect interaction and navigation within the voicemail system. Further, in some embodiments, a user may interface withinteractive voice response (IVR) menus using a graphical interface, suchas a web-browser, in addition to audio interfaces accessed over atelephone, for example.

The voice mail server 150 may be a general or special-purpose computer.The computer utilizes a processor, executing an operating system, suchas a Unix®, Linux Windows®, Macintosh®, or other operating system. Thevoice mail server 150 also utilizes applications software for receiving,storing, processing, and delivering messages. In other embodiments, thevoice mail server 150 may include multiple computers in communicationwith one another, such as a server farm, cluster, or grid.

Database 155 may also maintain information about voice mail messagemailboxes of users that are hosted by the voice mail system. Database155 may be a general or special purpose computer or may be softwareexecuting on the voice mail server 150. The database 155 may alsoinclude a storage network having multiple computers executing as a gridor cluster. The database management software may be a proprietarydatabase format or any of a number of commercially available databaseproducts, such as Oracle® or Microsoft SQL Server®.

In one embodiment, the database 155 stores subscriber profiles that areaccessed by the voice mail server 150. A subscriber profile may includesubscriber preferences. Subscriber preferences include such informationas indication of a spoken language to be used in voice mail menuprompts, where the spoken language is understood by the subscriber. Anembodiment of the present disclosure takes the information from thesubscriber profile to help generate a new version of a voice mailmessage in a language that is understood by a user of the voice mailsystem.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods forproviding advanced translation services (by a voice mail translationsystem) as part of a voice mail system. As on example, an embodiment ofthe present disclosure includes a translation server 170 that includes aprocessor for translating voice mail messages from a spoken language ofthe party that generated the message to a spoken language of the user ofthe voice mailbox where the message is delivered. The voice mail systemalso includes a processor (e.g., as embodied in a voice mail server 150)for extracting information for determining from what spoken language avoice mail message should be translated from and to which spokenlanguage the voice mail message should be translated to and a database155 for storing a subscriber profile of users of the voice mail system.

In one embodiment, the voice mail server 150 may forward the voice mailmessage to the translation server 170 with related information, such asidentification of the voice mail user or subscriber, the identifiedlanguage of the message, and the preferred spoken language of the voicemail user. Generally, the translation server 170 employs a translationalgorithm for the identified language of the message such that the logicof the translation server 170 identifies words within the message andthen maps the words to corresponding words in the preferred language ofthe user. Then, the translation server 170 (or related component)utilizes a voice generation algorithm to form an audible message in thelanguage of the user expressing the words of the message.

As previously mentioned, the translation server 170 utilizes informationprovided by the subscriber profile and a voice mail message to translateinformation for creating a new version of the voice mail message inanother spoken language. For example, the database 155 may contain avoice mail message for a subscriber that is in a foreign spokenlanguage. The subscriber profile provides information indicating thatthe subscriber prefers to have voice mail messages in a designatedspoken language that is understood by the subscriber. The translationserver 170, therefore, utilizes this information in concert with theactual contents of the message provided by the voice mail server 150 tocreate a translated version of the voice mail message in the preferredspoken language.

To do so, in one embodiment, the translation server 170 accesses alibrary 175 of algorithms or scripts with instructions for performing anautomated translation from one spoken language to another. For example,the library may contain a script with instructions for performing anautomated translation from language “A” to language “B.” Further, thetranslation server 170 may also utilize more than one script to performa translation. For example, to perform an automated translation fromlanguage “A” to language “C,” the translation server 170 may utilize ascript to perform an automated translation from language “A” to language“B” and another script to perform a translation from language “B” tolanguage “C” where multiple scripts are employed to perform thetranslation from “A” to “C”. Lernout & Hauspie® is one company, amongothers, involved in producing translation software that may be used inone embodiment of the present disclosure.

The translation server 170 may also feature a voice recognition unit(not shown) coupled to receive encoded voice data to recognize segmentsof speech that are then mapped by the translation server 170 tocorresponding segments of speech in a preferred spoken language. Anaudio representation of the speech pattern may then be synthesized usinga concatenative synthesis technique or a formant synthesis technique,for example.

In one embodiment, the voice mail server may be included as part ofpacketized network 110. In alternative embodiments, the voice mailserver may be included as part of PSTN 130. The voice mail server may beinterfaced by both packetized network 110 and PSTN 130, in someembodiments. A translation server 170 provides automated translationservices through packetized network 110 to the voice mail server 150.The translation server 170 may reside outside or inside a voice mailsystem, in various embodiments.

To help further explain advantageous features of the present disclosure,the following example is provided. In this example, consider that a useror subscriber of a voice mail server is a business person in the UnitedStates and the user has a customer in another country that speaks adifferent language than the user. The customer in the other countryneeds to communicate a message to the user. Accordingly, the customerplaces a telephone call to the user and is forwarded to the voice mailsystem of the user. The customer leaves a voice mail message for theuser asking for help on an important matter. A problem is that the userdoes not speak or understand the spoken language of the customer.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, a userinterfaces his voice mail system through an interactive menu. In oneembodiment, the interactive menu is provided by interaction between atouch-tone telephone and the voice mail system. The interactive menu mayoffer a “tree-like” format for the user. The user begins the menu at the“trunk” of the tree. As the user selects specific menu items, he or sheis guided down “branches” of the tree. Each “branch” may then haveseveral “sub-branches” that may be navigated by the user. If the usermakes a mistake, he or she return to the previous menu or “branch.”

FIG. 2 displays an interactive menu format for one embodiment. It shouldbe noted, there are many other possible menu formats, and the examplepresented in FIG. 2 is thus only one example of a possible menu format.

Here, a user first enters his password (210) to the voice mail system toverify that the user is authorized to access the voice mail system. Whenthe voice mail server 150 receives a request from the subscriber toaccess a voice mail recording or message, the voice mail server 150identifies the user, for example, by validating a password associatedwith a mailbox number of the user. Then, the user is presented withoptions for accessing new messages (220), saved messages (222), greetingsettings (224), or other voicemail settings (226). If the user selectsto review a new or saved message, then the user is presented withadditional options, such as replaying a message (240), deleting amessage (242), saving a message (244), translating a message (246), andother options (248).

Additional options are also included for configuring a greeting a voicemailbox including listening to a current greeting (252), recording a newgreeting (254), listening to a newly recorded greeting (256), saving anewly recorded greeting (258), and re-recording a greeting (260). Also,other options may also be included for setting up a voice mail service,including the option of specifying a spoken language for voice menuprompts (262).

Accordingly, in one embodiment, the menu is provided in a prerecorded,verbal form by the voice mail server 150. For purposes of illustrationand example, the menu can include the following prerecorded message:“Welcome. If you already know the number of your selection, you can dialit at any time. Press 1 to access new messages. Press 2 to access savedmessages. Press 3 to review or configure your greeting options. Press 4to access other voice mail options.” In addition to thetelecommunication options, the interactive menu can provide additionalannouncements to promote new services, to inform of changes intelecommunication services, and to provide news.

Therefore, in the present example, the user may choose to select theoption (246) of translating a voice mail message from a foreign spokenlanguage into a spoken language understood by the user, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, in oneimplementation of a menu system, after the user of the voice mail systemlistens to a voice mail message and realizes that it is in a foreignlanguage, the user may then back out of the current menu selection andchoose the option to translate the message into another spoken language.Accordingly, in response to selection of this option, the voice mailmessage left by the customer is accessed by the translation server 150and a version of the message is generated in a spoken languageidentified by the user and placed in the mailbox of the user. Therefore,the user has two messages—the original message in the original languageand the translated message—available to him.

One advantage of this approach is that the translation service isperformed asynchronously: First, a caller may call and leave a voicemail message or recording and at whatever time he or she wants to andthe recipient can retrieve the message at whatever time he or she wantsand have it translated a desired time. Further, implementing theautomated translation service requires no technical knowledge or set-upon part of the party leaving the message and the party receiving themessage.

The immediacy at which the translated message is provided to the user isdependent upon the processing abilities of the translation server 170and the complexity of the algorithm for translating the foreign languageof the voice mail message to a spoken language preferred by the user.However, in some embodiments, the translation service may be performedahead of time.

For example, a calling party into a voice mail system may be prompted toor afforded an opportunity to select a spoken language for voice menuprompts that are used to navigate the voice mail system. In this way, acalling party can utilize voice menu prompts in the language preferredby the calling party. Accordingly, the voice mail system may detect thata calling party has selected a language for prompts of an interactivemenu that is not the same as a language identified by a user orsubscriber of the voice mail system, where the user has previouslydesignated a preference for a particular spoken language. For example,the user of the voice mail system may have a subscriber profile thatidentifies that the user prefers his or her menu prompts to be providedin a particular language.

In one embodiment, the voice mail server 150 receives a voice mailmessage directed to a subscriber. In response, the voice mail server 150searches a database 155 for a subscriber profile that includes thesubscriber's preferences. The voice mail server 155 utilizes thesepreferences to process the message in accordance with the subscriber'spreferences. In one embodiment, the voice mail server 155 automaticallytranslates a voice mail message to a spoken language preferred by thesubscriber.

In such a case, the voice mail server 155 may request a translatedversion of a voice mail message automatically be generated (by thetranslation server 170) upon receipt of the voice mail message in thevoice mail system. Further, in some embodiments, a user may designate inhis or her subscriber profile whether he or she prefers that translatedversions of messages be automatically generated in such a fashion.

In an alternative embodiment, an interactive menu of a voice mail systemmay provide an option to a calling party to generate a translatedversion of a voice mail message generated by the calling party. Thisoption may be provided as a standard option to the calling party as partof the interactive menu presented to the calling party. Alternatively,this option may be provided after a voice mail server 150 detects that alanguage being used by the calling party is different that a languageused by the user of the voice mail system for which the voice mailmessage is being placed.

In addition to detecting a language from which customizations ofinteractive menus are based, telephone exchange information of thecalling party and/or called party may be used to trigger the offering ofautomated translation services to the calling party and/or called party,in some embodiments. Also, in one embodiment, the voice mail server 155may prompt a user with an option of translating a voice mail messagewhen the user attempts to access the voice mail message for the firsttime.

Further, in addition to using calling party or geographical informationassociated with calling number information, some embodiments utilizelanguage-specific access telephone numbers to determine the caller'slanguage. In one embodiment, a voicemail service provider providesvarious language-specific access numbers that correspond to the variouslanguages offered. A voicemail_subscriber may then direct his or hercorrespondents to dial the language-specific access number or thesubscriber may maintain a telephone number that forwarded to alanguage-specific voicemail access number.

When a foreign language speaker reaches the voicemail system using alanguage-specific access number, the system may provide special optionsavailable only to a foreign language speaker, e.g., the system may offerto translate the message before or after the caller leaves the message.Also, the system may provide the caller with a special code that thecaller can use to retrieve a translated reply at a later time. Thisallows a non-subscriber to retrieve translated messages. Further, theforeign language speaker may indicate that he or she wants the messageto be translated into the subscriber's language. In such embodiments,the voicemail system would provide instructions and a code to retrieve atranslated message. The voicemail subscriber may later retrieve thetranslated message and be instructed to record a reply. One embodimentof the voicemail translation system would translate the message into thecaller's language and make it available for later retrieval using theretrieval code.

Referring now the flow chart of FIG. 3, a representative process of oneembodiment of a voice mail translation service (as may be employed by anembodiment of a voice translation system) is described. The flow chartbegins with a calling party places a telephone call to a user of thevoice mail system and is forwarded to a voice mail system. The voicemail system receives (310) the telephone call. In accordance withservices offered by the voice mail system, the calling party leaves anaudio voice mail recording for the user or subscriber of the voice mailsystem. Thus, the voice mail system generates (320) a voice mailrecording by the calling party for the user and delivers (330) the voicemail recording to the mailbox of the user. The user of the voice mailsystem may then later access the voice mail recording from the voicemail system and make a request to the voice mail service to have thevoice mail recording translated into another spoken language specifiedby the user. Accordingly, the voice mail system receives (340) a requestor instruction to translate the voice mail recording into another spokenlanguage.

A translation service of the voice mail system then converts (350) thecontents of audio voice mail recording into the spoken languagespecified by the user which is delivered (360) as a new version of theaudio voice mail recording to the mailbox of the user. The newtranslated voice recording is created using speech synthesis and machinelanguage translation technology. In some embodiments, note that the usermay request an e-mail version of the translated message to be generatedand delivered to an e-mail address of the user instead of or in additionto the new audio recording message that is delivered to the voicemailbox of the user.

As noted previously, in some embodiments, spoken language preferences ofthe calling and/or called party may be procured from language selectionspreviously made by a party in interacting with the voice mail system. Inaddition, in some embodiments, the voice mail system may recognize aspoken language of a party from voice recognition technology employed bycomponents of the voice mail system, where the spoken language of theparty is inferred by analyzing the spoken speech of the party ininteracting with the voice mail system.

Next, FIG. 4 describes a process for another embodiment of a voice mailtranslation process. To begin with, a calling party accesses a voicemail system and indicates that the user's spoken language is “languageA” (e.g., whether by affirmatively designating as such or indirectlyindicating as such). Therefore, a voice mail system receives (410) anindication of a preferred spoken language from a calling party. Also,the calling party acts to generate (420) a voice mail recording for auser of the voice mail system.

In step 430, the user of the voice mail system accesses his or her voicemail mailbox, for example, by keying in or speaking an identificationcode following entry of his or her mailbox number. In response, thevoicemail system may recite (440) a list of newly received voice mailmessages. At the end of each recitation, the user is given the option ofpressing a key or speaking a command to access the message, as shown instep 450. Once the user presses the key or answers “yes” to select aparticular voice mail message, the message is then presented to the userin step 460. Note that corresponding prompts may also be provided forstored messages that have been previously accessed by a user and areavailable to the user.

In accordance with one embodiment, after a user accesses a message, theuser is provided with an option for translating a voice mail messageinto another spoken language, as shown in step 470. For example, thisoption may be provided to a user after a spoken language is detected fora voice mail message that is different than a preferred spoken languageof the user or after a user invokes a command directed toward performingan automated translation service. In either case, the voice mail messageis translated (480) by the voice mail system into a new version of thevoice mail message in a different spoken language than the originalvoice mail message. The new version is saved in the mailbox of the user.

In one embodiment, a complete interactive voice response system may beimplemented based on recognition of a spoken language of a party. Forinstance, a voice mail message may be left in a spoken language andtranslated into a spoken language preferred by a user. The user may thenreply to the message by connecting to the voice mail system of theoriginator and leaving a voice mail message for the originator of theprior voice mail message at the mailbox of the originator. In doing so,the user may invoke a command to have the reply translated into thespoken language of the originator by the voice mail system of theoriginator where the voice mail systems of the user and the originatormay communicate pertinent information to complete this task, such as thespoken language of the user. Alternatively, the voice mail message leftby the user may be translated when the originator accesses his or hervoice mail system to access the message. In either case, a reply to thevoice mail message is generated in the spoken language of the originatorof the voice mail message, as shown in step 490 of FIG. 4.

As an additional option, a translation server 170 may have more than onealgorithm available for translating a voice mail message from onelanguage into another. Therefore, if a default algorithm used fortranslating a voice mail message does not produce a version of themessage that is clearly understood by the user, the voice mail servermay provide an option of performing a new translation using a differentalgorithm. Further, in some embodiments, the voice mail server 150 mayprovide a user an option of specifying a particular vocabulary of wordsto be used in performing an automated translation of a voice mailmessage. For example, if a user is involved in a specialized trade orindustry, than a vocabulary of terms often used in the specializedindustry may be used to translate voice mail messages received by theuser on his or her mailbox that is used for business purposes. In asituation where a user is not satisfied with a translated version of avoice mail message, the user may also have the option of having theoriginal voice mail message transferred to a live translation service,where a human translator performs a translation of the message that isrecorded and returned to the mailbox of the user.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the translation server 170 iscapable of performing a translation for any set of spoken languages, aslong as it has access to instructions for performing the translation.Accordingly, an open source environment could be utilized in oneembodiment to encourage the creation of instructions for performingtranslations from and to as many spoken languages as possible bypublishing a methodology used in performing translations that may beutilized by others in designing new translation instructions.

Further, in some embodiments, a party may specify (via an interactivemenu or in preferences contained within a subscriber profile)customizations for translated messages. For example, a party maycustomize a synthesized speech used in the translation. As such, aperson may specify a female or a male's type of speech to be used. Otheroptions may also include a child's speech, an adult's speech, an“excited” speech pattern, an “angry” speech pattern, etc. These optionsmay be designated by a party leaving the message or the party receivingthe message, in different embodiments.

In one embodiment, a voice mail system may offer the translation serviceas an integrated part of its core functionality with some additionaltranslation services being offered at an additional expense to a user.Alternatively, in some embodiments, the translation service may beoffered as a standalone service that is separate from a voice mailservice. Further, the present disclosure is not limited toimplementation of a translation system within a voicemail environment.The teachings of the present disclosure may be extended to other typesof messaging systems, including implementations involving translatingtext messages from one language to another, translating a spoken messageinto a textual message (in the same or a different language),translating a text message into an audible message (in the same or adifferent language), etc.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the voice mail translationfunctionality can be implemented in software (e.g., firmware), hardware,or a combination thereof. In one mode, a voice mail translation system510 is implemented in software, as an executable program, and isexecuted by a special or general purpose digital computer, such as apersonal computer (PC; IBM-compatible, Apple-compatible, or otherwise),workstation, minicomputer, or mainframe computer. An example of ageneral purpose computer 500 that can implement the voice mailtranslation system 510 of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 5.

Generally, in terms of hardware architecture, as shown in FIG. 5, thecomputer 500 includes a processor 520, memory 540, and one or more inputand/or output (I/O) devices 560 (or peripherals) that arecommunicatively coupled via a local interface 580. The local interface580 can be, for example but not limited to, one or more buses or otherwired or wireless connections, as is known in the art. The processor 520is a hardware device for executing software, particularly that stored inmemory 540. The processor 520 can be any custom made or commerciallyavailable processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliaryprocessor among several processors associated with the computer 11, asemiconductor based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chipset), a macroprocessor, or generally any device for executing softwareinstructions.

The memory 540 can include any one or combination of volatile memoryelements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM,etc.)) and nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape,CDROM, etc.). Moreover, the memory 540 may incorporate electronic,magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Note that thememory 540 can have a distributed architecture, where various componentsare situated remote from one another, but can be accessed by theprocessor 520.

The software in memory 540 may include one or more separate programs,each of which comprises an ordered listing of executable instructionsfor implementing logical functions. In the example of FIG. 5, thesoftware in the memory 540 includes the voice mail translation system510 in accordance with the present disclosure and a suitable operatingsystem (0/S) 550. The operating system 550 essentially controls theexecution of other computer programs, such as the voice mail translationsystem 510, and provides scheduling, input-output control, file and datamanagement, memory management, and communication control and relatedservices.

The voice mail translation system 510 is a source program, executableprogram (object code), script, or any other entity comprising a set ofinstructions to be performed. When a source program, then the program istranslated via a compiler, assembler, interpreter, or the like, whichmay or may not be included within the memory 540, so as to operateproperly in connection with the O/S 550.

The I/O devices 560 may include input devices, for example but notlimited to, a keyboard, mouse, scanner, microphone, etc. Furthermore,the I/O devices 560 may also include output devices, for example but notlimited to, a printer, display, etc. Finally, the I/O devices 560 mayfurther include devices that communicate both inputs and outputs, forinstance but not limited to, a modulator/demodulator (modem; foraccessing another device, system, or network), a radio frequency (RF) orother transceiver, a telephonic interface, a bridge, a router, etc.

When the voice mail translation system 510 is implemented in software,as is shown in FIG. 5, it should be noted that the voice mailtranslation system 510 can be stored on any computer readable medium foruse by or in connection with any computer related system or method. Inthe context of this document, a computer readable medium is anelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical device or means thatcan contain or store a computer program for use by or in connection witha computer related system or method. The voice mail translation system510 can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device,such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or othersystem that can fetch the instructions from the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In thecontext of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be any meansthat can store, communicate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer readable medium can be, for example but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium.

Any process descriptions or blocks in flow charts should be understoodas representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include oneor more executable instructions for implementing specific logicalfunctions or steps in the process, and alternate implementations areincluded within the scope of one ore more embodiments of the presentdisclosure in which functions may be executed out of order from thatshown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverseorder, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understoodby those reasonably skilled in the art of the present disclosure.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations,merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of thedisclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to theabove-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departingsubstantially from the spirit and principles of the present disclosure.For example, other messaging systems may be applicable to the teachingsof the present disclosure. In one embodiment, a web, keypad, or voiceinterface to an e-mail messaging system may also offer translation ofe-mail messages into a spoken language of a user, where the translationmessage may be provided into a text-message, such as an e-mail message,or an audio message that may be retrieved from an access device, such asa telephone All such modifications and variations are intended to beincluded herein within the scope of this disclosure.

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a voice messageintended as a personal message from a sender for a recipient user, thevoice message being in a first language; determining that a preferredspoken language of the recipient user differs from the first language toyield a determination; based on the determination, presenting to therecipient user the voice message in the first language with an option totranslate the voice message into the preferred spoken language;receiving, from the recipient user, an interaction with the option toyield an instruction to translate the voice message into the preferredspoken language; based on the instruction, translating, via a processorand based on a retrieval code provided by the recipient user, the voicemessage into the preferred spoken language, to yield a translated voicemessage; providing the translated voice message to the recipient user;receiving a reply message from the recipient user; and generating, viathe processor, a reply to the voice message by translating the replymessage into the first language.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving the retrieval code from an output of a keypad. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the voice message,in addition to the translated voice message, to the recipient user. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection from therecipient user of a type of voice to be used in the translated voicemessage.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving aselection from the recipient user of a type of speech pattern to be usedin the translated voice message.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: generating, in the preferred spoken language, an emailversion of the translated voice message; and providing the email versionto the recipient user.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receivingof the voice message, the receiving of the retrieval code, thetranslating of the voice message, and the providing of the translatedvoice message are performed on a cell phone.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving of the voice message, the receiving of theretrieval code, the translating of the voice message, and the providingof the translated voice message are performed on a server.
 9. A systemcomprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium havinginstructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in theprocessor performing: receiving a voice message intended as a personalmessage from a sender for a recipient user, the voice message being in afirst language; determining that a preferred spoken language of therecipient user differs from the first language to yield a determination;based on the determination, presenting to the recipient user the voicemessage in the first language with an option to translate the voicemessage into the preferred spoken language; receiving, from therecipient user, an interaction with the option to yield an instructionto translate the voice message into the preferred spoken language; basedon the instruction, translating, via a processor and based on aretrieval code provided by the recipient user, the voice message intothe preferred spoken language, to yield a translated voice message;providing the translated voice message to the recipient user; receivinga reply message from the recipient user; and generating, via theprocessor, a reply to the voice message by translating the reply messageinto the first language.
 10. The system of claim 9, thecomputer-readable storage medium having additional instructions storedwhich, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprisingreceiving the retrieval code from an output of a keypad.
 11. The systemof claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additionalinstructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result inoperations comprising providing the voice message, in addition to thetranslated voice message, to the recipient user.
 12. The system of claim9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructionsstored which, when executed by the processor, result in operationscomprising receiving a selection from the recipient user of a type ofvoice to be used in the translated voice message.
 13. The system ofclaim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additionalinstructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result inoperations comprising receiving a selection from the recipient user of atype of speech pattern to be used in the translated voice message. 14.The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium havingadditional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor,result in operations comprising: generating, in the preferred spokenlanguage, an email version of the translated voice message; andproviding the email version to the recipient user.
 15. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the receiving of the voice message, the receiving ofthe retrieval code, the translating of the voice message, and theproviding of the translated voice message are performed on a cell phone.16. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving of the voice message,the receiving of the retrieval code, the translating of the voicemessage, and the providing of the translated voice message are performedon a server.
 17. A computer-readable storage device having instructionsstored which, when executed by a computing device, result in operationscomprising: receiving a voice message intended as a personal messagefrom a sender for a recipient user, the voice message being in a firstlanguage; determining that a preferred spoken language of the recipientuser differs from the first language to yield a determination; based onthe determination, presenting to the recipient user the voice message inthe first language with an option to translate the voice message intothe preferred spoken language; receiving, from the recipient user, aninteraction with the option to yield an instruction to translate thevoice message into the preferred spoken language; based on theinstruction, translating, via a processor and based on a retrieval codeprovided by the recipient user, the voice message into the preferredspoken language, to yield a translated voice message; providing thetranslated voice message to the recipient user; receiving a replymessage from the recipient user; and generating, via the processor, areply to the voice message by translating the reply message in the firstlanguage.